Album

Polish pianist Mieczyslaw Horszowski was born in 1892, began performing in 1901, knew Fauré, and had a career that lasted until shortly before his death in 1993. Perhaps more than any other pianist widely recorded in modern times, he had artistic roots in the nineteenth century. "Legend" is an overused word, but by the time these live recordings were made in Britain in 1984 and 1987 (the later set two days before the pianist's 95th birthday) Horszowski certainly merited the word. His fingers had slowed down by this time, but the shapes of his interpretations, which depended on a sweeping sense of large line combined with great flexibility in local texture and detail, were intact. Consider the opening movement of the Mozart Piano Sonata in F major, K. 332 (track 7), in which Horszowski takes the repeat. His reading of the exposition has such a sense of controlled waywardness that the opening theme, taken in deadpan neutrality, feels like a train dragged back onto the track when its repeat comes along; you can't help but smile at that. In shorter pieces by Villa-Lobos and Mendelssohn and in a couple of Chopin mazurkas, he is still capable of really charmed moments, and Liszt's technically demanding arrangement of Bach's Prelude and Fugue in A minor, BWV 543, packs a punch. The rarely heard Prelude of Pablo Casals, opening the program, was a tribute paid among artists and friends. Only the Chopin Piano Sonata No. 3 in B minor, Op. 58, is not quite there, but you can hear the unusual Beethovenian weight Horszowski gave to Chopin's larger works. The sound is not good, and one marvels anew at how British audiences can unleash volleys of coughs and wheezes even in the middle of June, but this disc is nonetheless a worthwhile historical document.

© James Manheim, Rovi

CD 1
Pablo Casals Composer Prelude, for piano Work Recorded 1984 Mieczyslaw Horszowski Piano
1	Prelude, for piano	6:52			$0.99
Frédéric François Chopin Composer Sonata No.3 in B-, Op.58 Work Recorded 1984 28:05 Mieczyslaw Horszowski Piano
2	1.Allegro maestoso	10:08			$1.99
3	2.Scherzo: Molto vivace	2:38			$0.99
4	3.Largo	8:59			$1.49
5	4.Finale: Presto, ma non tanto	6:20			$0.99
Johann Sebastian Bach Composer Prelude and Fugue in A-, BWV543 ('The Great') Work Recorded 1987 Mieczyslaw Horszowski Piano
6	Prelude and Fugue in A-, BWV543 ('The Great')	11:24			$1.99
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Composer Piano Sonata No.12 in F, K.332 Work Recorded 1987 17:32 Mieczyslaw Horszowski Piano
7	1.Allegro	7:18			$1.49
8	2.Adagio	4:51			$0.99
9	3.Allegro assai	5:23			$0.99
Heitor Villa-Lobos Composer Album 1, A.277 Work Recorded 1987 Mieczyslaw Horszowski Piano
10	2.A Maré Encheu (The Tide Flowed)	2:17			$0.99
Heitor Villa-Lobos Composer 12 Cirandinhas, A.210 Work Recorded 1987 Mieczyslaw Horszowski Piano
11	6.Cai, cai, balao	1:48			$0.99
Frédéric François Chopin Composer 4 Mazurkas, Op.24 Work Recorded 1987 Mieczyslaw Horszowski Piano
12	No.4 in Bb-	3:57			$0.99
Frédéric François Chopin Composer 3 Mazurkas, Op.56 Work Recorded 1987 Mieczyslaw Horszowski Piano
13	No.2 in C	2:00			$0.99
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Composer Songs without Words, Book 6, Op.67 Work Recorded 1987 Mieczyslaw Horszowski Piano
14	4.Spinnerlied (Spinning Song) in C	2:20			$0.99